


An incredible AU where talking resolve pining

by TheHappyEgg



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: BAMF Darcy Lewis, Darcy is the fandom bicycle and I love it, F/M, Happy Ending, I accidentally wrote 8kwords fic, Polyamory Negotiations, Resolved Romantic Tension, SHIP DARCY WITH ALL THE THINGS, Sharing Body Heat, Sharing a Bed, ShieldShock - Freeform, Stucky - Freeform, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension, WinterShock - Freeform, WinterShockShield - Freeform, birthday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-07-12 12:58:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7104424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHappyEgg/pseuds/TheHappyEgg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One week ago I saw on my tumblr's dash someone I didn't even followed only asking for a WinterShockShield fic where they share a bed in a safe house as a birthday gift.</p><p>I though, why not ? and wrote 3 chapters and one epilogue. I will post until the birthdate of the person that asked for this gift. (14/06)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Karma is a Woman

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Still_Aliveand_Kicking](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Still_Aliveand_Kicking/gifts), [casedeputy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/casedeputy/gifts).



> Happy early birthday:)

There were three things that Bucky Barnes hated (at least) as much as HYDRA:  
\- When a mission went FUBAR because of a stupid handler's decision  
\- when Steve Rogers was hurt  
\- and involving civilians in government spy agency stuff

Today HYDRA had captured one Darcy Lewis. Steve had been hurt in the rescue mission. They had worked with a stupid ass handler that couldn't read a weather forecast correctly. Consequences: they were trap in a miniscule safe house in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a snow storm, with a Steve Rogers in a coma after a HYDRA goon thought it was a good idea to throw his best friend into icy water. Because giving Captain America hypothermia was so original...

Yes, Bucky was mad. Like Pepper after Tony tried to play with Hulk without his suit level of madness.

However, anger wouldn’t help him to save his friend's ass. Rage may have helped him carry an unconscious Steve Rogers to the cabin, but now that they were in a relatively safe place, he needed to calm down. Hatred didn't help people make rational decisions. That's why they had tried to make the Winter Soldier a heartless puppet. Heartless people didn't panic. Bucky had been free from their conditioning for months but he had yet to deal with about 70 years of unresolved anger management.

Another reason for his presently distressed state of mind was obviously Darcy Lewis. He didn't want Darcy to be afraid of him. Maybe it was already too late. As soon as she entered the cabin she left for another room. Like she couldn't stand to be in his vicinity anymore. Now that she had seen the Soldier at work.

The young woman was one of the rare people in the tower who didn't fear him. When he had interrogated her on it, she said that working with Jane had totally fucked up her danger scale. Bucky wasn't sure yet if it was a joke but most of the time he appreciated her humour. She was kind, caring, and sassy. Besides she always made Steve blush so nicely. Anyone that could bring that beautiful redness to his friend’s skin was good in his book.

The problem with Darcy Lewis was she was too good for her own good. Too good for him obviously. Maybe the Bucky from the 40's would have pushed his luck with the gorgeous dame but he was not that man anymore. He was damaged. Broken. He didn't deserve her. He was already lucky enough to have Steve back in his life (even if Steve was not back in every way he wanted).

Besides, Bucky had seen how Stevie looked at her. What a perfect match they will be.

Darcy interrupted his thoughts.

"Ok. No surprise, only one bed but at least it's a two person one. I am on team light up a fire in the fireplace and move the mat' here. I don't want Stark to tease Steve more than he already does when calling him Capsicle."

When a civilian was having better survival skills than you, you had to worry about your state of mind.

Like she had read his thoughts, the woman continued, "Are you OK, Buck? Do you need to sit? To drink something? I knew I shouldn't have let you carry him all that way alone. Please, don't abandon me. You are the only reason I am not having an anxiety attack right now. So don't you dare go all catatonic on me now that we have a chance to defrost your boyfriend."

Her voice was a bit hysterical. Tears in the corner of her eyes as her mouth opened into a twisted smile. Her hands were shaking.

He took her hand and pulled her into his embrace. He was cautious and moved slowly, giving her all the time she needed to escape, but Darcy only melted into his arms. Her heart was pounding hard against his chest. Or was it his? They calmed their breathing together. Inhaling in and out. In and out. Definitely his own heart.

"Have you located food and wood supplies?" He asked in his controlled voice. Like she was not in his arms, gripping his tactical suit like her life depended on it. Like he was just taking a report from a random SHIELD minion.

"Cupboards are full of unidentified food cans. We have the basics to light a fire but if we want it to last longer than a day, we will have to do without the kitchen chairs," she was practicing Natasha's breathing exercises. Now that he thought about it, the redheaded spy had a soft spot for the gal. She was probably the one who taught Darcy her survival skills.

"We should start the fire," said Bucky without moving an inch.

"We should," replied Darcy blankly.

It was horrible because his best friend was right there. His best friend who was about to die from hypothermia and he couldn't escape from this woman's embrace. A woman he knew Steve was crazy about. Something Darcy herself was aware of. Bucky and Darcy were torn by guilt and an urgency to move but they were unable to. Their bodies were screaming for an instant of peace, screaming and taking it. No matter how their souls were crying that this was bad. That it would destroy them.

"Fire or moving the mattress?" Asked Bucky to give himself the illusion of doing something.

"If your super arms can take it, I will let you do the heavy moving. My parents forced me to join the Jew Girl Scouts when I was young. Time to see if I remembered anything beside dick jokes.There goes his theory on Natasha's lessons on survival skills. Darcy Lewis was an independent woman who needed no secret agent to be a badass. Well except the time she asked Natasha to teach her that trick with her thighs. But it’s an impressive and useful trick. Bucky would have done the same.

They ended the hug naturally and parted ways to accomplish their respective missions. Here was another annoying Darcy superpower: she didn’t do awkward. She could live through the most bizarre situations and never seem out of place. As if Life herself had a crush on the woman and protected her from the pain of awkwardness. Darcy just rolled with things: like she easily accepted the existence of alien gods and continued to believe in her parent's God, like she dedicated her life to an astrophysicist she fell platonically in love with while she was a political science girl. She just accepted everything with grace and humour.

Come on Buck! Less pining, more saving the jerk's frozen ass.

He put the mattress in front of the fireplace and put his best friend on it. He hadn't found a survival blanket, which was disappointing but not surprising. He carried Steve to the bed. His best friend was shivering. The rational part of his brain knew this was a good thing because it meant Steve’s body was reacting to the cold and hadn't stop fighting. However Bucky was still incredibly afraid for him. He went to the kitchen to break down a few chairs to burn his off anxiety and to warm up his own body after the whole trip through the freezing countryside.

When he came back to the main room with a neat pile of kindling, he froze in place for a second. Darcy was bending over Steve's prone body and was carefully cutting him out of his wet tact suit. Her hands were sure but cautious. Darcy had taken a few clothes off as well. The fireplace was slowly crackling beside them, their wet clothes drying in front of it. They looked like they just stepped out of a cheesy war romance fantasy that every soldier had but denied having.

Bucky had made peace with his subconscious desires a long time ago, and an old timey pin-up nurses taking care of their sexy army boyfriend was one of them. But even Bucky's heart knew he didn't have a place in the picture. Soon his best friend would get better, take his head out of his ass and date, then marry the dame of his dreams. Bucky will be happy for them. He won't let anyone else be their best man, did you heard me, Wilson? He saw Steve first, he will be at his left for their wedding!

"Why are you making a face? I am not trying to steal him from you. Come on, share the body heat, beautiful. Strip, now," ordered the lady like it was nothing.

Bucky choked as hard as that time Darcy had shown him pictures of the Pride Parades from all over the world.

Darcy suddenly blushed and folded her arms over her thin T-shirt.

"What? Was the 'let's share body heat' a joke all along and no one told me?" Darcy was fiercely keeping her chin up; a bit vexed, a bit upset. She was cute.

"No. No. It's not that. I just thought you wouldn't want..." tried Bucky before being interrupted "Wouldn't want what? To save his life just after you saved mine?"

"He won't die, you know. I can do it. I have before. You don't have to. If you don't want to..." by Odin's beard, where was the smooth talker everyone thought he was?

"He will feel better if we both warmed him up, wouldn’t he?" asked Darcy growing angrier by the second.

"He would," agreed the soldier.

"What is your problem? Is it because it involves nakedness? Is it good old sexism from your days where in men's minds a gal couldn't show an ankle without loosing all her values?"

"Nah. I never though that crap. Stevie was not the only one raised by a single feminist mother, you know?" Bucky said to appeased her.

"No, I don't know. Because you never say anything about yourself. So no, I had no idea. I warn you, James, if you don't give me a valid reason in two seconds of why I shouldn't take off my wet uncomfortable shirt, it will join Steve's suit in front of the fire." Her eyes were full of rage, her hands gripping the seams of her shirt, arms crossed in front of her in that special way women had when stripping out of their clothes.

He shrugged it off, able to recognize a lost battle when he saw one. He went to the other side of the room and took off his tactical suit with the force of habit. He focused on folding his Kevlar gear neatly, resolving to not let his gaze linger on the woman undressing a few feet away from him.

He just didn't plan on how tiny the room was and his sniper reflexes. It was not like he had vision like Hawkeye, but his survival depended on his ability to catch something on the edges of his vision. So, obviously he noticed her and like the dummy who couldn't hold his tongue he said.

"You can keep your bra on," Oh fuck. He was so fucked. Was it Karma for all he had done with Hydra?

"That jackass goon took it. Something about it being a potential weapon. Did he think I was the Black Widow? I am a scientist wrangler! I couldn't shoot a gun even if you had already loaded it for me! But that little shit took my bra because of its ‘weapon potential’. So, yup. I free the boobies tonight. There is no way I’m sleeping in my dirty shirt. As soon as we are back, I am goanna burn this shit. You can close your prude eyes if you’re afraid they’ll made you blind," said the woman angry at the disappearance of her favorite bra. It was so difficult to find bras in her size that were sexy and affordable. Usually when buying bras it was: right size, cheap, or beautiful; you could only choose two. She won't make the mistake of wearing an expensive bra on workdays anymore. 

"I think you’re talking to the wrong super soldier, doll. I, for one, am far from a virgin,” said Bucky who somehow felt it necessary to restore his masculinity.

"So is Stevie boy. You should really stop this little game of yours. Stark is the only one who could think a drop dead gorgeous super soldier could stay a virgin for more than five minutes in this perverted world. Even Agent Fan Boy stopped believing it after the first few weeks. But Stark is just that stubborn. Stevie could organize a gangbang in the living room, be caught in the act and say it was a platonic chest-comparing contest and Stark would believe it. How can he be declared a genius and a playboy? It's beyond the capability of my imagination. And I have seen aliens!" rambled Darcy.

Bucky burst out laughing at the sassy woman's speech. Charming little thing that swore like a sailor. He looked at her. She was back to cutting what remained of Steve's Captain America suit. She was naked except for the black panties covering her sex. She seemed absolutely unworried of his potential gaze. She was far outside from what society deemed beautiful. Her skin was pale with old tan lines from T-shirts. Her breast jiggled with her every movement; her belly was unflatteringly folded with several bulges as she accomplished her task. She moved back to add the piece of fabric in front of the fire, revealing her back. Lighting scars were decorating the skin of her thighs. He wanted to follow every stretch mark with his tongue.

Darcy sighed dramatically in front of the fire "Finally! You are laughing. I thought I lost you. See? We don't have to make it awkward. We are both consenting adults sharing a bed to save a third non-consenting friend who is risking death from hypothermia. There is no need for angsty, unresolved, sexual tension. Women’s breasts aren't inherently sexual. Just like I won't melt because I saw your tits, you can stare at mine without making a big deal out of it. Relax buddy. It's the twenty first century. Women finally control their sexuality and have nothing to be ashamed of," stated Darcy.

OK this one was probably for that time in Bucharest when he shot all the regime's opponents' kids. If she continues like this, she will exorcise every innocent's death he had on his guilty conscience.

Come on, Sarge, do it for Steve


	2. Pinning: classes in room 101

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention that I have a beta reader and they are a light in my life.
> 
> I want to thank every person who took time to leave a kudo, a comment, bookmarked or subscribed to this fic. I am thrilled by your amazing support.
> 
> Still 2 chapters to come before D Day.

"Which side of the bed do you prefer? Let me rephrase it. Which side of Steve do you prefer? Back or front?" Darcy asked casually.

It was only logical to put Steve on his side. Less warmth would be lost to the mattress. Bucky considered the question.

"Back," answered Bucky.

"Ass. Good choice. I suppose you know what you are doing here. Or are you trying to push me into your boyfriend's arms?" joked the intern with an outrageous wink.

It was a curious habit of hers. To call Steve his boyfriend every time she flirted with him. Like she knew she had to remind him it was nothing but a joke. Like she didn't flirt with everyone from Pepper to Coulson. However, she always put barriers to her games. She had in a few years gone from the funny fat girl you treated like a bro to the beautiful goddess that hung out with the Avengers. She had fun trying to push the boundaries of her newly discovered powers of seduction. 

It was innocent overall. She never tried to seduce people who were not ok with innocent flirting. She respected people's boundaries with caution. Never touching someone who couldn't stand it, never cruel, always honest in her compliments.

Someone who didn't know Steve would say her outrageous flirty attitude made him uneasy but that person would be wrong. The goofy jerk was just unable to properly answer when he had a woman's attention. Darcy was perfectly aware of it.

And yet, here the two of them were. Her cruelly showing him the two things, the two people he cared the most about on this fucking planet, showing him what his heart most desired but would never have. It hurt. He hid it. Obviously he hid it well as she never caught onto his lie. His training to be the perfect little soldier had to be helpful for something.

Sometime he wanted to stop hiding it. To show her how much he suffered from her game.

Sometime he swore she would never know, letting her go on with the friendly touches, the flirty winks, the stupid jokes, sexy smiles, long hours of dancing in the ball room teaching him the latest dance of her generation. He never wanted it to stop. 

"It's because of my arm. It's too heavy. During the night, its weight crushes my body if I don't sleep on it. To sleep comfortably on my side, I need to be in back of Steve. Or we could turn Steve over if it bothers you," explained Bucky.

"Wow, calm down, Sarge. I was joking. I wasn't implying anything. Your metal arm. I should have thought about it. Is it stupid to say that sometimes I forget it's there?" Beautiful angel. She really was the only one capable of forgetting that his arm was a weapon of massive destruction and probably killed as many people in the previous century as Stark's missiles.

Even Steve's eyes were full of sadness when he saw it. But Darcy never knew him differently. It was just another part of him she accepted, like she had embraced all of him: PSTD and old charm.

"No, it's not stupid at all." Don't cry now, Sarge. Please, come on.

They carefully lay down next to Steve. They approached his cold body, no mater how instinctive it was to want keep their own bodies warm. Darcy shivered.

"You OK, doll?" asked the boy from Brooklyn.

"Yeah. It's just... Cold Capsicle is cold. I will never again bitch about a lover's cold feet. Never ever again." Whatever she said, she nested closer into Steve's arms, pulling them towards her body.

"I warned you," joked Bucky.

"I would prefer it if you could warmed me up," answered Darcy with the same tone.

It was not just another pick up line. A line had been crossed. He lifted his head above Steve's shoulder to meet her gaze. Her eyes were, for once, serious and she was biting her lip in a display of regret. But not regretful enough to take her words back.

"Please, Sarge, I’m freezing. Give me your hand." There was no hint of joke in her whispered voice. It was like a prayer. Like she didn't know he couldn't refuse her anything. Like he couldn't refuse anything to the man lying between them.

Steve's girl.

His flesh hand caressed Steve's skin along his arm until his fingers were resting on Steve's. Carefully, he moved his fingers to the skin of her belly. The rest of his arm shifted against Steve's until they were both embracing her.

The implications of what was happening made his head buzz. He shivered. Darcy took his hand in hers, suddenly afraid he would take it back it. As if he could, now he knew how her skin felt under his touch.

She laced their fingers together and brought their joint hands to her lips. She kissed the top of his hand. Darcy murmured a soothing sound to calm his panicked heart but he couldn’t avoid her warm breath on their hands or the emotion it created that crushed him like he was nothing.

"Shhhhhh. Stop worrying that much. Nothing bad is gonna happen. We are all safe now. You are safe. Safe and with your friends," she reminded him. Bullseye, right through the heart. How much can he hate a word?

"When will you stop pretending that we are friends?" he asked rudely.

He knew that he may have destroyed everything he had built with her but he was just so tired of this day. Maybe it was the only way their story could end. At this moment he was so exhausted he just hoped she wouldn’t make Steve suffer for his mistakes. The guy was really gone on her.

"When you can’t stand my friendship anymore," whispered Darcy.

"Do you really hate me that much?" Asked the soldier, defeated.

"That's not the right question," said Darcy, like it explained everything. She kissed his hand again like she wanted him to support this torture a bit more.

"I am fucking tired of your mind games. Why do you make everything so difficult?” She closed her eyes at the exact moment his voice broke.

"Sometime we need to work for the best things in life. You asked me if I hated you that much but I told you that wasn't the right question. Why don't you ask me what the right question is."

He was just a puppet in her hands and she was slowly pulling his strings. Shortening them, should he crush Steve's unconscious body between them?

"What is the right question?" He asked like a diligent puppet. There was salt on his lips. Had he been crying? He didn't remember crying. Tears had been escaping Darcy's wide eyes for a while now. Was it her tears he tasted? If he kissed her right now, would she stop crying? Would he? Would she taste the salt on his lips?

"The right question is: Do I really love you that much?" She tightened her grip on his hand to make her words more real.

"Wow. If this is the way you love I don't even want to know how it feels for you to hate me." He freed his hand from hers to caress her check. And he had thought her tummy's skin was smooth under his touch. He added like an afterthought, "I thought you liked Steve."

"Who’s the cruel one, now?" She answered like she wanted to punch him. Natasha couldn't have taught her to hit harder. "I do love him though." She added with a velvet voice but her words wounded him more than the first time.

"Can't you just pick one of us? Our friendship survived seventy years of separation and Nazism but I don't think it can take one spitfire dame like you. Please. Anyone you choose, we would make it work. We both love you too much not to." He knew he was talking for his best friend but there was no universe in which Stevie or even him wouldn’t be gentlemanly enough to back off when their feelings were unwanted. They were old school, not creepy rapists.

"I can't. I love both of you. Picking one would betray both. I am so gone for each of you individually but I can't bear to separate you. I will love both of you or neither. I won't settle for anything less."

"Doll, you are crazy!" whispered Bucky who couldn't trust what he just heard.

"You say it like it's a bad thing," replied the girl.

He laughed. She smiled at him like he mattered.

"How could it work? It would never…" he started to ramble. He didn't do rambling. Someone should inform his mouth who clearly hadn't got the memo.

"Don't tell me you never shared a girl with your boyfriend back in the day?" Asked Darcy a bit surprised.

"No. We never did... Steve has never been my boyfriend why do you insist so much with that?" And now he was angry again. He could do angry. He knew anger.

"Because Steve told me that's what you were. Boyfriends," answered Darcy, snuffing out his anger like you blow out a candle.

"I never thought he had feelings. I thought he just wanted comfort when he thought he was dying. He never wanted to do it again after he became... Big." What kind of friend had he been?

"He was very much in love with you. You just always talked about bringing home a gal for you. He thought he wasn’t enough for you. I have seen pictures of skinny Steve by the way. I can't understand how you couldn't find one willing girl. Were the gals of your time blind?"

"It's complicated. First people were not as open as you were on fags. Queers. Homosexuals. Whatever. And we grew up during depression. Maybe your generation learned to appreciate the appeal of a slim body but in that time slim and weak meant 'maybe I won't survive this winter'. Dead boyfriends never made sexy boyfriends," replied Bucky in a bitter voice.

"I’m sorry. Sometime I talk without thinking. I will do my best to stop critiquing your time without knowing about it. And I will try not to remind you about the times you thought you would lose him."

"Today was a close one," whispered Bucky.

Without any more words they both brought their bodies closer to Steve. Not in a sensual way, but like they wanted to protect him from the world. Their bodies synchronizing to shield the man who was probably the strongest one of the century. Darcy and Bucky were both aware how precious the man behind the armor was.

Darcy nestled into the crook of Steve's neck. Her nose and Bucky's were practically touching. She mischievously smiled and bumped their nose together before coming back to the perfect place at Steve's neckline.

"If he really loved me. Why didn't he tell me? Why did he put a stop to this friend with benefits thing?" He asked Darcy like she contained all the answers of the universe. According to his heart it was highly likely.

"I can only repeated what he told me, you should talk to him when he wakes up. Basically he told me he thought he was not enough for you because you keep insisting on inviting a woman into your bed."

Bucky sighed in answer. Strands of Darcy's hair moved under the wind. He wanted to do it again to reveal more of her naked skin.

"I didn't even know I was someone's boyfriend and two minutes later and I am already the worst boyfriend ever," said Bucky.

"Once again I don't have first hand experience of it." She winked. "I think Steve suffered a bit at first, even if he never told me in so many words, but I know it helped him consider his sexuality. While he was only seeing you, he started to look at women to fulfill your desires, and then he became aware that the idea of sharing you didn't bother him that much. He even started to look for a dame for himself too," explained Darcy.

"Oh dear. I made Captain America bisexual," said Bucky with comically wide eyes.

"Well as pretty as you are sweetie, he probably was bisexual before, but you helped him to come out to himself. As well as poly. I think that fact in itself deserved some kind of pride medal," flirted Darcy like she always did. Half disarming sincerity, half sass but you couldn't say where one started and the other ended. Steve definitely had a thing for sassy brunettes.

"Poly? Poly-what?" Asked Bucky. Maybe there was a tiny chance Steve was still interested in this boyfriend thing. He didn't want to miss anything that would give him a second chance at it.

"Polyamory. It's the name for people who can love more than one person romantically at a time. I love both of you so I identified myself as polyamourous. Steve uses this label too,” explained Darcy with patience.

"Steve is poly? How can Steve be poly? I have never seen him with more than one gal at time!" Said Bucky. He was not trying to invalidate his best friend's orientation. His whole brain was reacting to the thin possibility he may still have a chance. He couldn't let his heart hope in vain. It would destroy him.

"Being Poly doesn't mean you have to always be attracted to a full tourist bus of random people. Falling in love is the same complicated process for everyone. Just like you can be bisexual or homosexual or heterosexual without having a single relationship to validate your orientation, you can be single and polyamourous at the same time," Darcy was a bit defensive this time. Like this was a well-practiced discussion. Has she had to defend her sexual and romantic orientation often? He couldn't answer that question. No matter how gone he was on her, he was still learning who Darcy Lewis was. For people claiming to be in love, they could really work on their communication skills. Has he even mentioned he was in love with her?

"Earth to Bucky Barnes. Earth to Bucky Barnes. Are you with me?" Darcy was looking at him with worried eyes. No one but Steve worried about him.

"I love you," he blurted out.


	3. Sassing is caring

was surprised then her smile became kind. "Good to know we are on the same page, here. But you won't escape this conversation about feelings with a cute spontaneous declaration of love."

"What? I don't even get a kiss as a reward for all my romantic charm?" Bucky asked playfully.

"Nope," answered Darcy. He loved what snapping the 'p' did to her sinful lips. "I already said that I won't chose between the two of you. I won't kiss your pretty mouth before it's all sorted out. We are both up for trying something different; the third is snoring into my hair. No reward for anyone until we are all consenting adults. I don't want Steve to feel left behind. Besides your declaration skills have room for improvement in the romance department," Darcy added with a wink. 

"I never said anything about a lover’s kiss. You are the succubus who wants to taste my lips. I was just asking for a chaste kiss on the forehead. You’re the one adding sinful meaning to kissing. Kisses aren't inherently sexual," smirked Bucky like the little shit he was. 

Darcy blushed deeply and hid her face behind Steve's shoulder, resting her face on his torso. Bucky stole her place in the crook of Steve's neck to observe her more easily.

"You are just doing it to embarrass me and to make me pay for previously teasing you about friendship nakedness." The sound of her voice was muffled because she was talking against Steve's torso.

"What can I say, doll. I am an Avenger. It's what we do, we avenge," he answered easily.

She looked at him offended. Suddenly, she attacked him. She used her hands on Steve's pectorals to push herself to his level and just when he thought she was going to head-butt his stupid face, she brought her lips towards his.

Time stopped.

Neither dared to close the last inch between them. They inhaled each other’s breath. Taking the time to admire the face of their loved one, noticing every detail they didn't have memorized yet. Every beauty spot, every scar. The curve of their opened lips. The common heat their bodies produced. How they were bent, just above Steve's jawline. How they could practically feel the warm blood pulsing in his neck. How everything smelled just like Steve. His shampoo and stupid cologne from the 40's that had haunted both of their dreams for years.

They couldn't.

They wanted to make it right. Like mature grown up that didn't rush their decisions when a little skin was revealed. Steve needed to be included in this. It was frustrating but they knew the wait would only make it better. However this knowledge didn't make it easier to resist the temptation.

Steve grunted in his sleep. The punk was not in danger anymore; he was safe between them, peacefully dreaming. Steve grumbled again and Darcy chuckled seeing his throat vibrate. She looked like she wanted to eat him whole and for the first time the idea didn't made Bucky envious. He was overwhelmed with joy to see his desire for this man mirrored in her brilliant eyes.

She put her lips against Steve's throat and kissed him. She made the kiss last, like she wanted to feel the vibrations as proof of their friend's safety, to gather this sounds with her mouth. She kept her eyes wide open as she kissed Steve's neck. Her gaze never left Bucky's eyes. This girl will be the death of him.

She gave him a knowing smile and left Steve's neck to kiss his own forehead like he had demanded earlier. Her mouth touching his face for the first time. She lingered a bit too much for it to be the purely platonic reward kiss they joked about.

"I love you both," he repeated because how could he not.

She said, "I know." She left a peck on his nose. "We are going to make it work." He wanted to believe her.

"How can you be so sure?" He let her go back to Steve's arms. Her ear against Steve's heart.

"Because we are already making it work. We are already friends and in love with each other. We spend time on our own, in separate couples and sometimes all three of us. Don't overthink everything about romantic relationships. We will go step by step. Don't worry; I have been there before. I will guide you. As long as we respect each other's boundaries and communicate, it will go smoothly." Her voice was like a promise.

"What if I fuck up everything? What if I am jealous?" The Winter Soldier was just a tin soldier mesmerized by this beautiful ballerina's attention.

"Are you?" She asked simply, waving at her naked body intertwined with his first love.

"You know I am not. But what if I become greedy? What if I become jealous?" He asked again. He needed to be sure before asking Steve to change the nature of their relationship forever.

"What if you don't?" He made a face. She rolled her eyes but continued. “Then, if that day happens, I hope you will be confident enough in your relationship with both of us to open up to us about it. Then we will figure out something together." He knew he was being a child, refusing what he had always dream of.

"What if Steve doesn't want to share, what will happen to the one he doesn't chose? I don't want to go back to what we had."

"Steve always had to share you. You never stop courting pretty girls when you had him,"

He interrupted her angrily. Mostly angry with himself though.

"I never knew he was mine at that time! I never gave him a choice." He felt like such a dick. He thought of all those nights, when he came back to their studio, a pretty dame on his arm. How Steve always went out to leave them the only bed. Being a 'Real Bro'.

"Maybe. But you don't lock up someone you love. Love is a free bird, he can rest on any branch he wants but each time he chooses you it's a cherished gift. When Steve was given the chance, to choose by himself, he wanted to include you in his relationships."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Asked Bucky totally lost. Darcy gave him a little pinch on his nose at his curse.

"I know for sure he asked Peggy Carter if she was open to polyamourous relationships but she was a very monogamous woman," confessed Darcy like it was a secret that Peggy had been so protective and jealous of her boyfriend.

"That's why he stopped everything after the serum," Bucky suddenly realized, "I thought that he didn't want me anymore because he finally could attract the most beautiful and brilliant women his kind soul deserved." Murmured Bucky, agape at this realization.

"Adorable self-sacrificing idiots," commented Darcy.

"Why do you know this after knowing Steve for less than two years and I never heard about it." The punk will hear about that for years. At least.

"He didn’t tell me. Sharon did. That's how I knew about the two of you. With this knowledge I only had to push him a little to get his confidences. Poor guy, he never had someone to confess his one-sided feelings for you to."

"Sharon. Agent 13 Sharon? Sharon Carter? Peggy's niece and Steve's ex girlfriend. How messy is Steve's dating life?"

"Don't tell me. We will make it right soon," smiled Darcy.

"Wait. Wait. Did Steve ask Sharon about including ME in their relationship? Was it why they broke up?"

"Not everything is about you, silly boy. Sharon was already in a poly relationship with Maria when she decided to date Steve. Sharon and Steve broke up for very common couple's reasons that are not mine to tell. However Steve had indeed asked Sharon if it was ok with her if he courted you." Bucky's entire face was screaming a gigantic ‘WHAaaat?’ Darcy was having a lot of fun. "Yeah I know. Who uses the word 'courting' nowadays? Isn't he cute?"

"How did you know all of that? Since when do spies spill their private love lives to civilians at every occasion?" Bucky was a little bit mad but he had never been fond of Sharon. Though the fact she was in an happy relationship with His Stevie when he met her didn’t help him be completely objective.

"Not at every occasion. Only every Thursday at girls’ night. But we are only spilling juicy details on our love lives since Nat was allowed to bring vodka. Best decision ever."

"I am not sure I want to know who is invited at a spy girls' night and what an undergrad intern is doing there."

"Fuck you! I am an official scientist wrangler. I have a contract that say so! You don’t have to be mean just because you are angry about having your head up your ass for so long!" Darcy frowned and hid in Steve's chest.

Once again he had hurt Darcy because of his aggressive, jealous, insecure heart.

"Please, doll. I’m sorry. I had no right to judge your work. You are amazing at it! Tony hasn't behaved like this since Pepper Potts was his PA. There are bets in the lab saying Thor shared the Allspeak secret with you because there is no way you could understand what Jane is saying most of the time. I can't even hope to ever understand half of what you do everyday. Please doll, look at me. Baby, I’m sorry." Bucky was mortified.

He shouldn't have devalued Darcy's work like that. Darcy really suffered from the lack of any official validation of her capabilities. She hid it well but she had shared her insecurities with him and Steve once an evening after Stark had been a pain in the ass (more than usually). Attacking her on that was a dick move.

He slid his hand under Steve's arm to reach Darcy's head and started to caress her scalp. Slowly passing his fingers through her messy hair. He was getting really worried about Darcy's lack of answer when she moved her head like a cat. "To the left."

"You are going to be the death of me," he said fondly.

"La petite Mort, j'espère?" Darcy winked at him. 

Darcy needed to stop making indecent propositions of pleasure in French Right Now if he didn't want to come in his pants. Come against Steve's naked back. Just thinking he could move a bit lower for ...

"Wow. I knew dirty words in French could have a devastating effect on guys, but you bring it to a whole new level," said Darcy half surprised half proud with herself.

"Doll, I am not sure you would like to hear what I have done in France..." Whispered Bucky trying to focus his mind on totally not sexy things. Like Ironman. Yeah. Think of Ironman.

"I am not sure I want to hear it either, but if someday you want to show me... You know, I am more of a woman of action," Charming little monster.

"Have you been hitting on me that hard this whole time? Because if I missed it, I am really the clueless one about women of this century."

"No. At first when Sharon told me about you guys pining so hard for each other, I just wanted to have fun. To flirt with one to make the other jealous. But you were really clueless. By the time we became friends, I grew attached to both of you, but I didn't know how to be someone else around you. My innocent flirts were not innocent anymore. But I was weak because I was afraid to lose both of you. I couldn't read you and Steve just blushes about everything. I didn't know where I was going with the two of you anymore. You were obviously in love with each other for a whole century and yet you were alone, each suffering on your own side. What could I bring to you that you, perfect enhanced soldiers, didn't already have?" There was water in her eyes. He just wanted to hold her tightly and never let her go. Steve was usually the one unable to talk. Not him. But it was something else when you were in love.

"Do you want a list in alphabetical order or a pondered list?" Good job Bucky. Sass. You could do it. See? She is smiling already.

"In reverse alphabetical order." That little shit, Steve would be proud.

"Well I will start with zealous. Young and yummy."

"Am I a new yogurt flavour? I feel like a yogurt flavour." She sassed.

"Extremely funny," he deadpanned.

"You are not as smart as you think you are."

"Wise. So wise. Whole. Worthy. Wonderful. Weird in the best way." He felt more confident at each word. He savored every syllable seeing Darcy's eyes slowly soften. "Welcoming. Warm-hearted. Well-informed. Wild. Wet, I hope," he winked.

"Worst, you are the worst," she said but her eyes were screaming a very different message.

"You love me for who I am," he teased but she answered with her disarming sincerity. "Never doubt it for a second."

"I really want to kiss you now," he confessed but because they had decided they needed to wait, he left a chaste kiss on Steve's naked shoulder. 

"The voice of wisdom declare we should probably sleep because this conversation will be way less frustrating when all of the participants are awake."

"You are probably right," he agreed but he didn't move to find a more comfortable position. He stayed in Steve's neck, looking at her like no one had before.

"You are not going to close your eyes even to blink, are you." Realized Darcy.

"With the dame of my dreams nestled in the arms of the man I have loved all my life? Not a chance doll."

"Stalker." she answered.

"I thought girls of your generation pronounced it ‘romantic’," 

"You wish."

"No doll, I already have all that I could dream of. Sleep well, Baby."

"Watch me," she said in this fierce tone of hers. After a few breaths, she asked, "Hold my hand.” He did.

The three potential lovers finally fell asleep wrapped around each other. Calm in their sleep for the first time in years. Protecting the others in their sleep and finding their own comfort and reassurance knowing their lovers were safe.


	4. Hello sunshine

Steve woke up slowly. A privileged experience he renounced when he enlisted. His subconscious immediately identified the warm body pressed against his back; its presence calmed his insecurities. He was safe. Bucky was there.

His mind was a bit slower to understand this fact and its implications. He hadn't slept with Bucky for years. He hadn't slept with a naked Bucky for longer. Not that he could have forgotten the bliss of it. No matter how wonderful the thing was, it was definitely abnormal to wake up naked cuddled by his best friend. Something must have happened even if he couldn't pinpoint it just yet.

There was also the fact that someone was sleeping in his arms. He felt warm breasts pressed against him. This person’s soft breath on his clavicle. How their mussed hair was tickling his neck. Their cold feet tangled with his and Bucky's. He didn't have the first clue who it was.

Steve had only dated military people who had issues with being the little spoon. It was not a lack of romantic feelings; it was a survival instinct to react with a knife when someone trapped them in their sleep. Steve didn't mind being the little one. He always associated it with his first timid embrace in Brooklyn with Bucky. Being the little spoon was awesome and he might have spent the rest of his life without realizing he was missing something.

Something or rather, the someone that was perfectly nested in his arms like they belonged there. His heartbeat increased as his mind dared to hope. 

He opened his eyes and realized that yes; it was Darcy in his arms. The friendly woman he confessed having his one-sided feelings for to Bucky. The woman who had spontaneously proposed to openly flirt with them to investigate if Bucky had an inch of jealousy in his body. They spent more and more time together and suddenly it was too late. He loved her. He felt like he betrayed her. She had only been friendly with him (except when Bucky was there obviously), she had warned him her flirting was fake. He hoped for more while she had already offered him so much. He felt like a dick with a heteronormative problem trying to push romance on a perfectly healthy man-woman friendship. 

He loved her anyway.

He loved her and here she was, sleeping in his arms of her own free will (because he started to deduce what had happened from what he could remember of yesterday’s mission). Darcy was wearing the happiest smile in her sleep. She looked like an angel.

"Tell me it's not a dream,” murmured Steve when he felt Bucky moving on his back.

Bucky kissed his shoulder. "Pretty sure it’s not, but if it is I hope I never wake up."

"How did it happen?" whispered Steve more to himself than to Bucky.

"My thoughts were more: why didn't it happened sooner?! How could we have lost so much time pining when everything is so easy and perfect now?" commented Bucky. He was slowly waking up, stretching his perfectly shaped body against Steve's back. Steve felt Bucky's erection pressed between his ass checks. Somehow, instead of being sexual and frustrating it was incredibly soothing for Steve. There will be time for lust and passion later, now was a holy time to welcome Bucky back into his life. He didn't want to rush a second of it and fully appreciated every step from Buck in this direction. It was even reassuring to feel they were on the same page. They didn't ask for more. Everything was so new and yet so perfect. Just like the amazing woman nestled in their bed. Perfect and so unexpected. They wouldn't dare to chase her out of their lives because they wanted to rediscover their old lover's body.

Darcy grumbled against him, "Why do grandpas have to wake up at ass o’clock?"

Bucky chuckled and welcome her with a caress along her side. "Hello sunshine."

A greeting Darcy immediately answered by "Fuck you too, blossom of perfection. Normal human beings need their beauty sleep."

"To me, you are always beautiful. No matter how much you snort and drool on a national icon," replied Bucky just as easily.

Steve will always be amazed by their beautiful relationship, half sass, half endearment. How they playfully teased each other to make him smile when he was lost in his head. How he could team up with Darcy to take care of Bucky when he became non-verbal and the three of them spent the day on the sofa eating junk food and watching the 70 years of animation they missed.

Darcy felt safe around them and confessed to them how she felt out of place in a tower full of multiple PhD scientists. Sure she was born with this technology and knew her way around a computer but the people in the tower already lived fifty years in the future, technologically speaking. The three of them encouraged each other to fill the technology gap between them and the rest of the tower. They learned to be proud of what they were but also how to communicate with Tony Stark. They felt understood. They were not alone like they had been for so long. They were together in this journey. They were family.

Darcy and Bucky had continued to insult each other fondly while Steve was dreaming of their future together. He came back to reality when Darcy grunted before turning away to pout. She wasn’t as unhappy as she played because she immediately snuggled her back to him and tangling her feet with theirs again.

"Shut up. No arguing before noon. Now. Sleep. Cuddle." She ordered in a sleepy tone that didn’t have the authority of a 2-day-old puppy. Steve thought that Bucky, the little shit, was about to argue when Darcy moved again.

She took both of their hands and put them on her naked breasts. She repeated again: "Sleep."

Both of them answered "Yes Ma'am" in perfect sync. Both in awe and gobsmacked by her audacity and how her gesture seemed absolutely natural to her.

Steve didn't know what the future held for the three of them, but right now, he was betting on an increased quality of sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a wonderful time writing this birthday prompt. I wish you liked it too. Please take a minute to leave a comment.  
> Follow me on tumblr, thehappyegg, obviously, and don't hesitate to send me ask prompt, even if it is not your birthday, I am always looking for excuses to write fluff.  
> Love

**Author's Note:**

> How do you find it ? Do you think it is an acceptable present from one Darcy lover to another? What is the prompt you would ask for your birthday?


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